I like sleeping in rest stops and random spots. I enjoy the dreams that 2 hour intervals of sleep in the van provide. I was the elected driver to get us from Memphis to Dallas, and while Goat and Sam slept I drove for a couple hours, slept for a couple, then repeated. This went on until I got us into Arkansas and sought out a national park. Hot Springs Arkansas is, according to Goat, one of the only cities inside of a national park. I navigated my way in the dark into a forest and alongside a river, and that’s where we stayed until morning.

Waking up in an Arkansas national park is a pretty pleasant experience, which is why I sought it out. We stretched our legs and wandered over to the river.

We decided to create a storyline with newly acquired sticks.

It started with a brutal fight

Then a death stab

Before we could get to the next planned scene (the eating of Sam), a cop pulled up and we awkwardly waved while I set down Sam’s leg and pretended like I wasn’t about to bite it.

Then we resumed.

We ate lunch in Texarkana and made friends with our waiter, Matt. We were definitely the oddballs out in the restaurant. As pop-country played over the stereo we reveled in our surroundings. Matt recommended the country-fried ribeye in about as thick of a Texas accent as you can get. He asked us all about Austin and being in a band, and let us know that he’d be visiting 6^th street soon. While we left he had us sign an autograph and showed us a picture of the only other singer that had come to the restaurant. She was a country artist from Georgia. This led us to one of the great quotes of tour. As I mentioned, Matt had a very serious Texas accent and when he talked about her he said. “She was from Georgia, her accent was very thick and it gets kinda annoying.” Sam and I both shrugged awkwardly and slowly shifted the topic away from thick accents.

We arrived in Dallas around 4pm and made our way to Geoff Earle’s (of Fresh Millions fame) family’s home. The condo is in Irving, just outside of Dallas and it’s in a sea of salmon colored fancy buildings. The community is actually awash with failed business parks, and their specific condo is right next to a man-made lake and an out of service mono rail. All of which serve one to two businesses of the hundred that they were built to serve.  The Earles’ condo is very nice and I think its actually great that only one or two people live on each of the floors.

We were greeted with the warmest of welcomes from Geoff’s mom, and soon were treated to fresh showers, snacks, and Nintendo wii. This is pretty much all you can ask for on tour. The whole Earle family arrived shortly, and we all chatted around the pool table.  We were invited to an excellent family dinner and left for the venue with our bellies full of lasagna and in high spirits due to our excellent hosts.

We loaded in the Cavern and hung out with John and Kyle of Parade of Flesh. They were very nice and accommodating and we discussed the ins and outs of Dallas music venues. This was to be John’s last show at the Cavern, which is really a shame because it’s a great room. Soon the Earles, Bonnie K. and John Clardy swung by and then it turned into a family affair.

Leg Sweeper kicked off the show and the room had started to fill. They played a great set to what seemed like a room of friends. They have a style that some one might call “Party Rock” doing things that could be compared to No Age or Japandroids (theyre also a guitar/drums two piece.) I talked to them after the show and told them they reminded me of Caddywhompus without any ambient parts.  I’d definitely check these guys out!

Tiger Thrust played next and they were somewhat similar to Leg Sweeper. I didn’t listen to much of their set and spent a bit of the time catching up with our Austin friends.

Once we started the room was very full and I could tell there were a lot of curious onlookers. Our set went very well, the crowd was super receptive and it was a great way to end the tour. Sound was a bit questionable, but overall good times.

Sir Name and the Janes closed off the night with a set that I missed almost entirely because we were bro-ing down with the Leg Sweeper boys and other friends outside.

After a little late night Taco Cabana action and an emergency van jump we made our way back to Irving, Texas and into the comfort of the Earles’ condo. There had been a leak in the ceiling the previous week, so the Earles had the smoking room/lounge on private reserve. Sam and I capitalized on this, and got to crash in what seemed like a very awesome hotel with an epic tv.

The rest of our night involved making concept albums, improvising lyrics to rap videos on mute, and exploratory missions till 6am. A great way to wrap up tour.

In the morning we ate a nice breakfast with the whole Earle family.  It was a very pleasant Christmas Eve activity and before we said goodbye we had the whole family pose for a Last Supper mock up.

We woke up early and hit the road to Atlanta. My phone had stopped working so we were in somewhat desperate need of an Apple store. There were also rumors of an excellent aquarium in Atlanta and the group began to think that we should probably go. The selling point was “They have whale sharks!”. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Alabama on the way. It was my first eating experience at the Cracker Barrel. I have to say, it’s kinda just a few signs away from racism there. They don’t spell it out, but there are definitely Anglo-Saxon children adorning the walls and good ole boys eating bacon. They also sell mounds of useless crap on the way out, and it seems like a successful business model. The food was decent, although I’m pretty sure grits aren’t good.

We drove right into the North Side of Atlanta, which we were told later is the “Rodeo Drive” of the city. The mall in Lennox Square had pretty much exclusive pay or valet parking and it was hard to find just a regular spot.  We walked around for a bit and wandered our way into the Apple Store. I’m pretty sure this Apple store is bigger than most others and in relation gives me a bit more anxiety.  Its always full of people asking ridiculous questions and the over-saturation of Apple products is pretty overwhelming. In any case, I got a nice “genius” to help me, and she whipped my phone back into working order.

We didn’t have time for the aquarium after the mall experience so we drove straight to East Atlanta where the club is. The 529 might be one of my favorite clubs in America. It’s small and intimate, had a great sound lady, and a bar with its own separate mix of sound from the main room. Sam told me that the owner of the bar was consistently remixing the feed from the main room all night, which is a tell on how the bar operates. The main room itself probably fits 200 at capacity and has a perfect little stage and a great wooden sound to it.

We loaded in and got to hang with Qurious, Bambara and Reptar. All great dudes/ladies and it seems like we’ll be friends with the whole crew for quite some time. While people trickled in I went next door to check out the scene. It was a soul food joint and I was pretty much the only white person. I grabbed a seat at the bar and watched “pink wild” perform solo Outkast covers on piano and vocals. It was more than excellent and once he entered into “Roses” I had to grab Sam and a few friends to watch. It pretty much fulfilled all desire in my heart for things Atlanta.

By the time Qurious kicked things off around 10 the room was pretty full. The turned down all the lights, put blacklights across the stage/keyboards and played a space journey of a set. They’re a two piece, Mike plays sampler for the most part and his beats touch on Panda Bear, High Places and things of that ilk. Catherine sings reverb washed melodies that hinted at Bjork. Kids loved it, and it was a perfect start to the night. I think these guys are going to continue producing good music. I would keep an eye on them if you’re interested in spaced out dance jams.

We took the stage next and there were lots of familiar faces in the crowd. I could tell all the kids just came to dance and after the last couple good shows I think Sam and I were both ready to capitalize on this. The room was pretty packed by the time our sound check was done and we kicked things off with a little “yell because you’re happy to be alive.” It worked like a charm. Highlights of the show included a parting of the red sea dance off featuring our friends George and Seanny, and my first tambourine break. It was a great response and a blast to play. I promised kisses in exchange for tambourines and a girl was nice enough to bring me back 10 of my tambourines. We tore things down as fast as possible and became social butterflies. It was a great place to meet new people and all the vibes were very positive.

Bambara took the stage next and started their set with a blast of floodlights and noise. Through the whole set the bassist triggered the floodlights in different combinations and they used the set up super effectively. Their sound was a blend of the guitar/bass noise of Health, and hard-hitting serious rock drums at danceable tempos. Sam compared them later to an experimental really good Kings of Leon, it blew my mind at first but I can see where he is coming from in hindsight. They had very danceable tempos and catchy melodies but with interesting guitar/bass textures instead of boring modern rock guitar. They were one of my personal favorites from tour.

Reptar took the stage next and the kids couldn’t have been more excited. They kicked off their set by handing out 3d glasses and letting everyone know that to fully enjoy the experience that they must wear the glasses at all times. Everyone abided. Reptar have a very strong pop sensibility and had the crowd at their fingertips with a blend of Passion Pit, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend, Cut Copy… but with quirky lead vocals. I can see these guys snagging a hit in the near future. I had a blast watching them and couldn’t have had a better time overall.

We packed up our stuff and headed off to The Majestic to eat with Bambara. Notable points of conversation included… Wes Borland’s less famous side project, David Duchovney’s career, Rob Snider, Scott Stapp (and Marlins will Soar.) A great finish to an exceptional night. We said our goodbyes and made our way to our friend George from Wowser Bowser’s house.

We woke up early in order to go to the notoriously awesome Atlanta Aquarium. Everyone was pretty rough from the previous night and lack of sleep. We hobbled our way into the van and soon found ourselves in front of the admission window trying to negotiate ticket prices. 27 dollars is probably fair for the world’s largest aquarium, but a very steep price to pay on tour. The admission ladies weren’t having any bartering and we ended up coughing up full price.

The Atlanta Aquarium is in fact awesome. It’s true, they have beluga whales, whale sharks, huge manta rays, saw fish, a penguin habitat with a tube underneath, and kinda weird dance numbers involving mermaids inside the huge tank. It’s quite a psychedelic experience going through a tube underneath the world’s largest water tank and being surrounded by all the creatures of the sea. We accosted a nice old man who worked at the aquarium and got him to get a picture of us with the whale shark swimming by. It took him 3 or 4 tries to co-ordinate his newly acquired iphone skills with the path of the whale shark. We got it right eventually and thanked him for his efforts.

We arrived in Memphis around 7pm and ate at the Kwik-Chek due to a recommendation from our gracious house show host Michaela. It was pretty unassuming from the outside, kind of a 7/11 vibe, but the food was a delicious blend of Korean and bbq. We made new friends with both the owner and chef/waitress. Our waitress, Stephanie, told us a little about the Memphis music scene and we convinced her to stop by the show later.

We started loading in the Stash House around 8pm and let our Goat helper (Michael) play N64 with his new friends at the house while we set up. It was a treat to listen to him backseat guide others Mario 64 playing.

We met Cheyenne of Sudden Organs as soon as we finished setting up. He let us know that his band wouldn’t be there tonight and he would be playing his set acoustic. I left the house soon after and literally went “walking in Memphis.” The area the stash house is located in is fairly nice, but I’d say overall Memphis has a relatively sketchy vibe. Also, information of note, you cannot buy tonic water in liquor stores, and my mission for Gin and Tonics turned out to be more difficult than I had hoped for.

Once back to the house Cheyenne played some songs to a 20-30 person crowd of onlookers. I found his music reminiscent of Dr. Dog.  While he played I thought the crowd’s behavior was a bit rude for an acoustic act, with many people talking or even having their backs turned to him in a very small room.

Once we sat down to get started the room had roughly 20 people in it. I stood on my piano bench and started the set with a little yell. I also said something along the lines of “Recently I wondered whether its possible to have a great show in front of 20 people. Let’s try together tonight and get down.”

The 20 people or so responded positively. But by song 3 or 4 the crowd had dwindled to round 8 and shifted back and forth around that number for the rest of the show. We played a short set and started to load up immediately. Memphis was the worst show of tour. Our hosts were kind, and we debated whether we would try it again. Other concert goers let us know that the house is usually packed with kids very excited to see live music, but tonight was an exception because of winter break. This may or may not be the case, but driving 7 hours is always more difficult when less than 10 people care that you did. It happens. We had a conversation with Reginold outside, whose opening statement was “I’m not gonna lie, I love the powder.”

We said our goodbyes while the Manatees played punk rock to a crowd of 5. The Manatees were an exceptionally smelly punk band. I would usually withhold statements like that, cause I try and keep things positive, but I don’t know if it’s negative to say a punk band was exceptionally smelly.

As we grabbed Taco Bell for dinner I cut the drive-thru turn short and left our van with a bright yellow post marking/dent. Just a little goodbye treat from Tennessee to Zorch.

We packed our things up in Hattiesburg and began the trek across Mississippi to Birmingham. Our last show had been canceled on the day of. During that visit we were with the great Cory Brim and within minutes of pulling up we witnessed multiple police interactions. As we sat on the porch with our friends ELI, another friend of theirs came up and told us about how he was running from the cops after tossing drugs out of his window. Soon after we decided to walk around and within a block, 3 cop cars screeched to a halt and asked if we had seen anything or been shooting fireworks. There was a distinct smell of gunpowder in the air. We said no and scurried away. When we finally got to a bar we were accosted by a pimp and were told that we smell like money. He offered us 2 grand to get in his car, do coke and lick pussy all night. We decided it probably wasn’t the best decision. We asked the local bartender about it and she told us that she used to be a driver for his hookers and that he was as legitimate as you could be.

So that was our Birmingham experience up until this point. The show seemed like it could go either way from the vibe of things. There was another touring band on the bill and we didn’t know much about the two locals besides the fact that one of them had flaked on us before for our last Birmingham experience. The local booking agent for Magic City Wholesale was on top of it though, and from what we heard from other bands, shows there could be a very good time.

We pulled up to the venue around 8 and it was very unassuming to say the least. It kind of had a wasteland/Baltimore feel to the area. Once the door was opened, the stairway told us that load in would be a blast. The stairs were roughly two flights and looked like something out of Seven with only enough space for one person to go through at a time. We aren’t really an upstairs friendly band, and it always is an extra mental and physical challenge to go through a difficult load in without any idea of whether a show would be good or not. Once inside though, the space was great. Small, falling apart, artsy, and just our kind of spot. I’ve been told that the space has no heat and can get unbearably cold, so we were quite fortunate to be there on a warm night.

A bit of the crowd started showing up around 9 and the room was pretty full once the first band, Nebulous, started. They were a trio with guitar, vocals and drums and kind of had a Dillinger Escape Plan thing going.

We set up and shut all the lights off in the little attic-y room. Tiny rooms like this are perfect for laser and epileptic seizure lights. People stayed energetic throughout the set and once again I was satisfied with both our performance and the crowds reaction. We finally got to meet our Alabama friend and fan, Jessica Simmions and made a couple new pals along the way, including the band after us, Heartless. They are a fine bunch of charming young metal fellows.

Once Heartless started I knew they fulfilled exactly what I need in my heart for Metal/Punk music. Loud, tight, fast, short songs, I would definitely recommend these dudes for anyone into that type of music.  They tore through a short but energetic set and we all bro’d down afterwards while the next band set up. While waiting for Grandaddy Ghostlegs to start I went outside and discussed Birmingham with a few of the locals. I somehow got involved in a football conversation once again (see new Orleans) and I now vaguely know what “Roll Tide” means. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a football hater, I just can’t hang in any given sport related conversation. What I do enjoy, is finding those little nuggets of information like “roll tide” in any given city you go to. A little buffet of culture- it’s pretty great. Grandaddy Ghostlegs closed out the night with a set that kept things interesting with quirky vocals and interesting chords. They pull a variety of sounds together to make something of a pop, psychedelic hybrid.

We packed everything up and executed a pretty grueling load out down the stairs once again. We parted ways with the other bands and our new friend/Magic City booking agent, Matt Whitson, led us to Al’s for some late night food. We actually went there last time, and it’s particularly famous for its Bakers. The Baker is a freak size potato stuffed with BBQ sauce, chicken, sour cream cheese, and chives. It’s kinda gross/delicious. We discussed the Birmingham music scene with Matt and the trials and tribulations of SXSW. After stuffing ourselves with questionable potato concoctions we made our way back to Matt’s house to crash. At this point Matt’s house had been voted number one sleep spot on tour. He not only had comfy spots for everyone to sleep on, he also had a pool table, streaming netflix, great artwork and a sweet Gibson SG. Good times over all in Birmingham, AL, everything went much better then expected.

We woke up in the Smiley house and decided that Vietnamese food was the best option. Pho is probably my favorite food for any type of hangover. After shooting the shit for a while we said our goodbyes to Smiley and went on our way to Hattiesburg.

We made a short side journey to look for a power cable for our cider maker. Our plan was to have warm cider at every show on tour, but we lost the power cable in Lafayette and thought finding a replacement wouldn’t be that hard. After stopping at both Home Depot and Walmart we made our way to RadioShack. This particular RadioShack was on the intersection of Bourbon and Canal and I’d have to say it was a highlight in my parallel parking career. Top 5 probably, number one being parallel parking the van in Manhattan. Even though we didn’t find the cable we needed, walking around Canal and Bourbon was a nice treat. New Orleans is one or my favorite cities, its just got so much character. Compared to a city like Houston, which has been somewhat homogenized.

The drive to Hattiesburg is very short, and there was discussion of going to the Hattiesburg Zoo to kill time. We decided against it in the end and made our way to Downtown Grill and Grocery. Once we pulled up we were greeted with the familiar and friendly faces of 1.21 Jiggawhats?!? The venue itself was kinda what it sounded like, a convenience store vibe with beers in the cooler and an established honor system for payment. We were performing at the tail end of the Grill’s Christmas party and the crew was already warmed up and ready to rock and roll. We started the process of setting up the PA and soon greeted our buds from New Orleans,“Native America.”

The last time we saw Native America they were a 4 piece with a friend on drums. On this particular night they were a three piece with a totally different drummer. I really enjoyed watching these guys and they are definitely one my favorite bands we’ve played with on this tour. Ross writes interesting pop arrangements and John and Ray held down the rhythm section. Both Ross and John play with a plethora of pedals (I heard some Hattiesburg people count 13, incorrectly I think) which add to their interesting texture. I would compare these guys to something of a mix between Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes, although neither really take the cake in comparisons.  What’s great about where these guys are pulling influences from is that you can really hear the local New Orleans community in their sound. It’s fantastic to hear a group of friends build both a community and influence each other in developing creative songwriting and textures. While listening to Native America I heard touches of Caddywhompus, Sun Hotel (a related band to Native America) Giant Cloud and even the guitar texture worlds of Smiley with a Knife. All of which are New Orleans bands of note and worth checking out.

We set up next and I could feel that the vibe of this show was going to be a refreshing change. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and knew from previous experience that people had brought their dancing shoes. We played a solid set and for the first time in the whole tour I felt satisfied with both our performance and the crowd’s reaction. As we loaded up I heard an older dude say “Foghat in ’73 and Zorch in 2010, best shows ever”. I also had other people come up to me and say that it was the best live show they have ever seen. Which, granted, maybe they haven’t seen a crazy amount of live shows, but it’s still a very nice compliment.

Jiggawhats?!?! Set up next and everyone in the crowd was ready to party. I got to hang and discuss Boston, Friends (the tv show), Everybody Loves Raymond, and various other subjects with the Native America crew while Jiggawhats!?!? Set up a ridiculous amount of tiny keyboards and noise-makers. For the record I do not love Raymond, and haven’t really invested time in Friends. Two girls whom I had seen at other shows bought 11 ZORCH? shirts between both of them while we ate a meal.

1.21 Jiggawhats?!? Ran through a comedic dance set and gave the crowd exactly what they wanted. Their set was spiced with back to the future samples and the star spangled banner. Its difficult to explain exactly what they sound like, but they are bound to rock a party with hits such as “Take a Shot 1” and the equally satisfying “Take a Shot 2” They all wear zany outfits and I would say their stage banter is beyond excellent.

Once the show wrapped up we headed back to the 1126 house to hang with the Jiggawhats?!?! crew. While we sat around and had a couple beers we were fully entertained by the comedic stylings of Vern the drummer. At one point he turned to us and said “Hey, do you know my initials spell Vag?” We didn’t, but were pretty excited to hear it. He also had a couple great jokes, which I held onto and used to my advantage in Birmingham.

“Whats worse than 9/11”

311

I woke up around noon in the van and walked around the Goat house to see if anyone was up. It seemed all-quiet and the doors were locked so I decided to go on a Lafayette journey by myself. I put on Mastodon “Blood Mountain,” drove around the city and had a pretty good time. I stopped at the most quiet Salvation Army I had ever been in and made my way to a “Community” coffee shop that we had been to on a previous tour. I did this mainly out of curiosity to see if they had gotten a new toaster. You’ll have to read the previous Lafayette blog post for the full story, but basically Sam had serious problems with the toaster and had to call for help, resulting in a portion of the coffee shop observing his toaster adventure. They had in fact replaced the toaster at this point.

Once I got back to the Goat house, his parents had returned. I played piano for a little while and got to duet with Mama Goat on Heart and Soul. Papa Goat played us the quintessential “swamp pop” song, which was “Mathilda” by Cookie and the Cupcakes.

These little parent visits and new friend adventures really make touring a very satisfying experience. Its like the tasting option at a restaurant, you just make a small stop in select morsels and get just enough to satisfy a little piece of your soul.

Papa Goat convinced us that I-10 was a poor route to New Orleans and that we should take the back way through Louisiana on Highway 9. After some debate we conceded and received written directions from Papa Goat. Even though we have a GPS in our van I like receiving written detailed instructions because its something that I feel like will go the way of the dodo in a few years.

We pulled up outside the Circle Bar around 9 and we’re greeted by the Smiley with a Knife guys on the doorstep.  We had met them previously, but never had the opportunity to really bro down till now. These guys are a blast. Being that we have many mutual friends there have long been rumors that we would all get along well. It’s true, we’re friends.

The venue was actually bigger and nicer than I had imagined. When we came to New Orleans in the past we had been warned against playing there due to the size. It’s small, but I guess intimate would be a more appropriate word. Space heaters and glowing Christmas décor adorned the walls and all the bartenders were more then helpful. As we explored the venue, The Jazz Holes were playing happy hour. They were a trumpet, drums, upright bass trio and were pretty awesome. It was very refreshing to see good jazz while on tour, and a welcome change of color to the palate.

Smiley took the stage next. We loaded our equipment out of the van and into the alley on the side of Circle Bar. I caught most of their set from outside, through the window. I hadn’t seen a Smiley with a Knife show since March and they had tightened things up since then. For those who are curious, they play instrumental rock in the vein of Minus the Bear, Circa Survive and Don Caballero. I would recommend checking them out.

We played last, and the room was full for the most part when we started. The show was pretty ok, nothing great, nothing bad. Good to have friends come and support, but definitely not a game changer for New Orleans. Once we were packing up, Justin from Smiley approached us in a Zorch/Key West belly shirt and said, “you’ve got more keys than a janitor” after which he said, “man, I’ve been working on that one all night, I was sweating bullets before.” He then reiterated “more keys than a janitor” and went on his was spreading holiday cheer with belly shirts and genius comedic quips.

This brings me to a conversation we had with Jared while waiting to load things in. Jared/Smiley’s philosophy is to consistently hit small/b or c markets before even bothering with large cities. So for example play Shreveport and Lafayette a bunch before even worrying about New Orleans or Houston. I halfway agree with this philosophy. He’s right in that hitting the small markets are key, and as you’ll see later in the blog our small town shows have gone much better than the big ones this particular tour. But I think the exception to this rule is getting to know good bands who draw well in the large market cities, or touring as a support act for national bands. Also, when driving from Austin to New Orleans its almost imperative to hit Houston along the way, even if it is a crap shoot. At least you being to build a community of people and friends who you know, and once you do get lucky with a really solid line-up, then you pull it all together. Jared is right in that it’s much harder to get a following in large cities though.

Once we were all packed up we made a stop at City Diner and then made our way to the Smiley house. First of all, the parking situation is very confusing in their neighborhood. It’s the only place I’ve ever been that has no curbs, but just lawns that everyone seems to park on. I sheepishly parked on someone else’s lawn and then was told to move by that neighbor. So, I parked on another lawn and hoped for the best. Parking is always right in there with other life challenges on tour, especially since we’re driving around a huge van with everything valuable in existence.

All the boys were hanging out in the back and at this point everyone was crossing the line of sobriety- well maybe tumbling way beyond it. With the Smiley crew there really isn’t much slurring of words or incoherent rambling but rather just conversational journeys, which I’m actually a big fan of. Justin and I vaguely discussed the difficulties of drawing crowds, musical paths, selling out to the man/populace and the Mars Volta. *Side note, he was still wearing the Zorch belly shirt.* After the Justin conversational journey, Jared, the drummer came out and said “I feel bad, I just talked your drummer’s ear off about football.” I didn’t really have a response, but I could feel the conversation pulling to talking my ear off about football, so I conceded. It was a pretty epic journey, but in summary, pretty interesting. His epic point was that the way the Saints play defense is like how one should live life. Making offensive moves out of any situation, scoring points even when you’re on the defensive. To relate things more he used the Wavves story as an example. The lead singer of Wavves had a public meltdown on stage in Europe and instead of crushing his career, his publicist promoted it from the angle, “Hey this guy is touring America soon, wouldn’t you like to see it if he freaks out again.” Which is probably the smartest move. Sleep was near after that conversation and I snuck away to bed.

We woke up at Maddie’s house in Houston and discussed the merits of legal weed. It’s technically marketed as incense, but seems to be what you might buy at five am when not wanting to wake anyone. Goat (our tour companion) Sam and I all turned down bong rips of this incense, which seemed like the best decision.  Soon after we walked over to whole foods and Goat and I flirted with the tattooed wine and cheese lady. She seemed to know as little about baked brie as we did. Houston has a very different vibe than Austin, and you can feel it while in the grocery store. Which, incidentally I think is a good way to judge any city. Once you walk in a grocery store, just feel out how many conversations naturally occur and I think you can get a good gauge of how friendly that city is. After returning to the house we debated whom the worst boy band is, received a tutorial in spinning fire, and said our goodbyes to our friends.

Once we crossed the border into Louisiana we immediately stopped at a gas station, which had not only gas, but also a drive through window for frozen daiquiris and a legit little casino. I opted to go inside being that I have a very good track record at video bingo. I also really like the general atmosphere in a video bingo casino, especially at 3 in the afternoon on a Friday. After loosing 5 dollars, we all treated ourselves to the complimentary subway and entered into a conversation with the casino manager. She asked us where we were heading and when we informed her we were a band on tour, she said “I thoughts so.” This always leads me to the next question, “well.. what do we play?” Her first answer was “punkish” and when I said “what” (only because I didn’t hear her) she then said “alternative.” I nodded and said yeah.. kinda, We then talked about her 23 and 30 year old sons, and she let us know that between the two she had heard every kind of music. I was tempted to discuss the new Flying Lotus release with her, and her opinion of the pitchfork top 20, but decided against it in the end.

We got into Lafayette around 6:00 and made our way to Michael “Goat” Gauthier’s (our tour companion) house. He warned us that his parents might be “weird,” which made Sam and I much more excited about the whole experience. Once we arrived we were in for quite a treat. Not only did we get to meet his parents, but also both Goat sisters. We were immediately forced to consume cupcakes, which had apparently been prepared for “the Zorch boys” arrival.  Goat’s mother is an English teacher, and his father a resident Cajun music expert. Once Michael brought him his one string tub bass the conversation was on. We dove deep into the essentials of Cajun music. His father has been following and playing traditional Cajun music for a long time, and I think it was the most informed conversation on the subject I’ve ever had. When I asked about washboard players I received a slight scoff and was informed that washboard is Zydeco and Cajun music doesn’t have any washboard. From what I understood traditional Cajun music was brought from the Acadians (Nova Scotia) where as Zydeco music is from the black community of Louisiana. Sam then asked if Lester (Goat’s father, and an excellent and fitting name btw) if he ever went to New Orleans to see Cajun music. Lester let us know that if it’s Cajun in New Orleans it is in fact “bullshit.” His analogy was that it would be like listening to Cajun music on a boombox in Austin, it just isn’t right. He borrowed us a cd to help educate us on the merits of Cajun and we soon made our way to Bisbano’s pizza shop for the show.

We arrived to a terrific sign, which said “every Friday band in the cellar.” That was us, the band in the cellar. Once we made our way downstairs it didn’t seem like anyone knew the details and the bar had a few locals milling around. We joked around with the lady bartending and her friend and received our free pizza. While eating Sam and I listened to her talk about her ex. It was pretty much the best conversation of the night. It consisted of her telling her friend and the regulars about how she had put on makeup today because her ex was picking up his stuff and he hadn’t showed up.   Her friend then told her that she had seen him in the bar the night before with a different girl, and she only knew it was him because he had “close eyes” this prompted an explosion of conversation from the group. A blind guy (there was actually two in the bar at this point) said, “hey be nice.”  The bartender and the women yelled back “he’s got close eyes” and she demonstrated that where most people’s bridge of the nose is supposed to be, his eyes just take over. This went on for five minutes or so, and once it seemed to fizzle out Sam yelled from the back in his best hick accent “fucker’s got close eyes” this literally prompted another five minutes of conversation on the his “close eyes.”

Round 10pm the place really started to fill up and at 11 the show kicked off with Come and Conquer. We’ve played with these guys before and although they have a very different lineup they definitely satisfy a particular need for metal/punk in my heart. I would recommend them for fans of heavy music. The lineup was also supposed to include Wildfires who are another product of Max Binet, but he unfortunately had come down with some sort of flu and as not metal as it was… had to cancel. I would also check those guys out if you are digging for heavy music from Louisiana.

We set up after Come and Conquer and the pizza shop was very crowded at this point. Our set was well received and it was a nice change from Houston the night before.

The set was closed off with a last minute of Japan Four, who played an instrumental rock set that was reminiscent of Maps and Atlases. They all seemed to be nice stoner dudes. We quickly packed everything into the van and made our way back to the Goat house. Goat informed us that the two recliners in the living room were the only open spots, but the Goat sister was on the coach. I opted for the van and Sam got comfy in the recliner. Which I heard later was like sleeping in an excellent airplane.

At this point going on tour is becoming more and more comfortable. When we woke up I glanced at my extensive to do list and with ease gathered all the necessities for 10 days on the road. In reality it doesn’t take all that much. Clothes, pillow, blanket, flashlight, air mattress… The true requirements really are a sound mind and body. If this seems a little noodle dance/hippie style for you, well, that’s because it is. While packing all the necessities and beginning our trip one of my main focuses was to enter a mind frame that is open to any good or bad occurrences. To take this one step further, I would say tour is similar in this way to improvising music in this way. It requires you to listen closely to your surroundings, reflect off of what’s happening and never expect anything. The juxtaposition of supreme concentration against no thought at all seems to be an oxymoron, but it really is the best way I could describe true musical expression in an improvisatory setting. This mind set is a close cousin of the mindset I try and maintain on tour. It doesn’t always work out that way, but I’ll return to that later.

We pulled up to KTRU (Rice Radio) around 5:00 with Christmas sweaters on, and cider in tow. Patricia the radio hostess greeted us outside and brought us into the studios. We didn’t have much of a plan besides hanging out, drinking warm cider and saying whatever came to our minds on the radio. Now ideally, this usually works out for Sam and me, being that we can both carry a conversation wherever it needs to go. As a disclaimer, I actually love the awkward pauses of college radio and prefer it to dj’s talking louder than necessary at all times. With that being said, we definitely had a few awkward silences on the radio, which I think made the experience much more exciting. Patricia had never done an interview on the air before, and didn’t have any questions written down. At one point she looked around the room and said well, what should I ask you? She asked a few others in the room if they had any questions. Our new friends shrugged and shook their heads. At this point we started in on our explanation of reptilian conspiracies. I’m pretty glad we did cause spouting conspiracy theories on the radio has sorta been on the to do list for a while. We also got to play our concept album that we made for our cat (the Captain Bartok ep). Once we wrapped up the interview, our kind radio hosts brought us to Valhalla, the on-campus bar of Rice University. We were told that it was the grad-student hang out, which made more sense once we walked inside. The vibe would be hard to put into words, but the crowd was older and I think we probably brightened the mood with our Christmas sweaters (there are sequins involved). After discussing the Hanson and N’Sync Christmas albums we made our way to Mangos.

As a band, you depend on information and tips from other musicians about where the best places to play are. Mangos has been mentioned to us on numerous occasions and it seems to have the reputation of one of the best clubs in Houston. So I imagined that they’d have a nice PA, clean room, and nice built in crowd on a Thursday night. There really wasn’t any of that, which is totally fine…. it’s just not what I imagined. We hung out with the always-charming Jeff from Muhammad Ali for a while and once people arrived, started to work the door. While we hung out, Sam looked up the rules for dreidel and we entered into our first game.

Hiss and Hum kicked things off round 9:30. To be honest they are not my genre, but they did have some interesting sound textures going on. For the most part they are a girl/guy singer-songwriter folk duo, but Gilberto had a vocal effects box that provided harmonies/texture. This really brought a welcome color to the pallet.

Next were our friends The Sour Notes. I’m actually a very big fan of these guys both personally and musically. They are one of the most responsible and hard working bands we know. They promote shows well, respond to emails very promptly and make very good experimental pop. They had the biggest crowd and deserved it due to the work they put in. This was the first show in which I had seen them use projections and I think it brought a lot to their set. I would recommend catching these guys if you have a chance.

Once The Sour Notes ended it seemed like lots of the crowd cleared out. Now I want to go back to my original point of keeping a solid mind set, and add a warning with it. Being in a band is hard, and always keeping that mind set can be even harder. You dedicate tens of thousands of hours to your craft, spend money on equipment, take time to promote, travel thousands of miles to play, and yet there are some nights when you can’t make people care. I do believe this was one of those nights, and that Houston as a city can be notorious for this. As we finished our first song it seemed like no one knew what to do with themselves. Should their hands meet each other in a force loud enough to make noise? For the most part we never really get this reaction, but when it happens its just a little surprising. We play music that we practice a lot and when we perform we really give it everything we’ve got because it’s challenging and extroverted. After seeing so many bands perform live, I also know that the one thing I can always appreciate in a performance is putting your whole heart in it. We do this all the time, honestly. We finished performing and once again Houston became a question mark. We’ve had amazing shows there and not so amazing, but it’s the only city where the line has been so far apart from show to show. Maybe it’s the size or something in the water, but that’s the name of the game in Houston.

Muhammad Ali set up on the floor and plowed through an alcohol-fueled set. I like this band, and their members. They play a party/punk/noise blend that I intend to see again. Ideally I want to see this band in a sweaty house party at 1am, cause that is very much their style.

We packed up and stayed at our good friend Maddie’s house. At 4am chaos broke out when her roommates returned from the club. Sam’s quote was, “they couldn’t have been more loud.” I just shut my eyes, rolled over and returned to sleep, but Sam is the sensitive sleep gnome of the bunch.

Gomez knew the score.

Gomez had his heart fucked with 7 more times than he feels comfortable with, which means he has had his heart fucked with 13 times,

which means his comfort level of how much he can take the heart break without sweating it too much would be 6.

Gomez should be explore other options such as love making with a tree

Ralph yells, “quench my thirst, fuck my tree!”

Gomez fucks Ralphs’ tree.

Fetus.

We trekked across Connecticut once again. This was our third time through the state, and didn’t really know what to expect from Danbury. We got to the venue around 7:30 and the vibe in the city was a bit sketchy. As I looked around the bathroom of Cousin Larry’s there probably 15-20 bands that I knew personally or had come across in booking the tour. The promoter, Sub Rosa Booking (who we never got a chance to personally meet) has a good thing going for the Danbury music scene. We left in search of free internet, and were instructed to seek out TK’s. It was wingnight and also give Zac and Sam anxiety night and we left shortly after arriving. It started to rain and was a bit of a gray scene once we entered the Danbury, CT borders. It was during our free internet and coffee time that I think we both experienced some heavy fatigue. Tour is wearing in a different sort of way, overnight you get physically tired and sweaty. As the days go on though, there’s a cumulative aspect that deeply wears on you. The kind of tired that will eventually take a week to recover from. We slammed some coffee, made primal monkey noises, scared away some patrons, and then put ourselves together and left.

We met VRSA shortly after pulling up to Larry’s the second time. After some mulling around and a few more people through the door they started their set. Stonery and kinda sludgy, they went on quite an epic hour long journey. i was a little worn at the length of their set and was happy that our friends in Hannibal montana let us play next.

Although this was probably the least people we played to on tour, it was pretty well received and kinda better than i expected Danbury to be. We kept it short with a three song set and packed up quickly so Hannibal Montana could take the stage.

Hannibal Montana is a three piece whose members all double on at least one instrument (I count computer, for the drummer) They played a really dynamic and energetic set that at times floated into the sounds of tortoise and other times into the energetic prog worlds of the Mars Volta. Im happy that we got a chance to hang out and play music with them.

We left to our new friend Josh’s house, and got to crash in a amazing quiet basement with gigantic couches. When we awoke in the morning we got to meet his terrific family and Josh cooked us an amazing breakfast. Its really awesome and refreshing to meet kind people on the road, and every time you feel that deep wear on your soul from so much work and travel it seems like there is always someone there to help you out.